Planning, Restrictions Building Land Permits Confiscation on Use and and Home Access Demolitions Introduction 93 If the Israeli Civil Administration Inspection Subcommittee identifies construction in-progress without a permit, they issue a "stop work" order for that construction. A “stop work” order paves the way for the Inspection Subcommittee to decide upon the destruction of the structure. The landowner is expected to present a license, apply for a building permit, or file a complaint within 30 days of the order’s delivery. Otherwise, the home (in whole or part) may be demolished any time after 30 days.324 Usually, the Israeli Civil Administration issues an informal additional warning before performing the demolition.325 Nasser Nawaj’a - Susya, Hebron (Part II)326 Home demolitions We are subjected to repeated risks of displacement and the demolition of our houses. We now live in tents made of plastic or cloth due to the lack of building permits. Since the early 90s we began receiving demolition orders regarding our tents and facilities and in 2001, following the death of a settler in the area, we were expelled from our lands for the second time and our properties were destroyed by the military. So we appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court which issued an interim order permitting us to return to our lands, but still, it prohibited any new buildings in the village. In 2004 we applied for building permits to the Israeli Civil Administration but, unfortunately, all of them were denied. In 2011, the Israeli authorities carried out demolitions of 14 structures (among them ten residential tents) in the village, and handed other demolition orders to additional structures, including the school and water wells. This led to the displacement of five families (around 40 residents), who moved to live in the nearby town of Yatta. A year later, the right-wing organization "Regavim" petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court demanding that the Israeli Civil Administration carry out the demolition orders issued for the buildings in the village of Susya, denouncing the Palestinian village of Susya as illegal. A few months later, the Israeli authorities issued demolition orders for 58 facilities including Susya’s elementary school and the health clinic. The notifications stated that they were renewals of demolition orders originally issued in the 90s. We were given three days to appeal the orders through the Civil Administration’s Supreme Planning Council. Therefore, we objected to the demolition orders and submitted a detailed master plan of the village in order to obtain official recognition of Susya as a village. Recently, in February 2013, the Supreme Court gave the authorities 90 days to discuss Susya’s master plan, which was submitted to them on September 2012 and has yet to be approved or rejected. 324 JLAC, Concealed Intentions: Israel’s Human Rights Violations Through the Manipulation of Zoning and Planning Laws in ‘Area C’. 325 OCHA, Special Focus: ‘Lack of Permit’ Demolitions and Resultant Displacement in Area C (May 2008); available from http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/Demolitions_in_Area_C_May_2008_ English.pdf; accessed 23 April 2013. 326 Nawaj’a, ‘The Village of Susiya - South Hebron Hills’.